Chemical imaging is known in the art. One example of an apparatus used for chemical imaging is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,476, entitled “Chemical Imaging System,” to Treado et al. Among other things, U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,476 teaches the use of Raman chemical imaging for analysis of a static sample, e.g., for assessing whether a particular tissue sample corresponds to normal tissue or breast cancer tissue. Other chemical imaging systems for assessment of static samples exist in the art.
In contrast to the prior art, the present invention uses chemical imaging to assess and observe non-static samples (i.e., samples that vary over time). Among other things, the present invention may be used to detect dynamic changes that occur in the sample over an observation period.